FIFA to Create Player Avatars to Assist Referees

FIFA has announced a project to create artificial intelligence-powered avatars during the 2026 World Cup matches to help referees make decisions using the semi-automated offside technology.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Lenovo Chairman and CEO Yuanqing Yang announced the project from the stage of the "Sphere" in Las Vegas, where they previewed "a series of innovative solutions that will change the way the 2026 World Cup is organized."

Infantino and Yang outlined the three main areas the joint "Football AI" team has been working on to bring innovations to the 2026 World Cup: further improving refereeing technologies, increasing match analysis capabilities, and enhancing fan engagement.

One key innovation will be "Football AI Pro," a generative AI assistant developed to support all 48 national teams. This tool will analyze hundreds of millions of football data points owned and organized by FIFA to generate insights in text, video, graphics, and 3D visualizations. It will have tactical applications for pre- and post-match analysis but will not be used during live gameplay.

Furthermore, the 1,248 players from the 48 teams participating in the World Cup across the USA, Canada, and Mexico will be digitally scanned (in just one second) to create an accurate 3D model. This will capture body part dimensions with extreme precision and reliably track players during fast or obstructed movements, which will benefit the offside control system.

These same 3D models will allow offside decisions made by the VAR to be displayed more realistically and engagingly for fans in the stadiums and for television viewers.

This same technology was already tested by FIFA at the 2025 Intercontinental Cup, during Flamengo's 2-0 victory over Pyramids FC last December, which secured the Brazilian team's ticket to the final where they lost on penalties to Paris Saint-Germain after a 1-1 draw.

There will also be a new version of "Referee View," the camera used by the referee in the 2025 Club World Cup held in the United States, where Chelsea were crowned champions after a 3-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain.

Thanks to Artificial Intelligence, the moving images will be stabilized, reducing blur.

FIFA announced in December 2025 that it was testing a new technology that can determine if the ball went out of play before a goal is scored. It has also developed *"real-time 3D recreation"* to make in-line visual offside decisions.